A Mother Always
by Leicontis
Summary: What if the power the Dark Lord knew not WAS love - the love of a mother for her son? A non-deus-ex-machina ending to the Battle of Hogwarts. AU, no pairings.


**A/N:** **My first published story! This is based on a plotbunny that's been hopping around in my head for a while now of a (to my knowledge) unique way to purge the horcrux from Harry's head and defeat Voldemort. If somebody else has beaten me to this idea, please let me know, as I'd love to see their take on it. Same goes for anybody that decides to make use of this idea in their own story, feel free to do so, but I'd ask that you acknowledge the source in an A/N and message me so I can read your story.**

 **Other than that, there's the general call for reviews (constructive criticism can help me refine my work and I'll happily answer pertinent questions), with the caveat that I would ask for civility.**

 **Oh, and I am very much not anyone who owns any aspect of the Harry Potter franchise beyond copies of the seven novels.**

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 **Underlined text is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 34:**

Lily's smile was the widest of all. She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough.

"You've been so brave."

He could not speak. His eyes feasted on her, and he thought that he would like to stand and look at her forever, and that would be enough.

"You are nearly there," said James. "Very close. We are . . . so proud of you."

"Does it hurt?"

The smiles on Lily's and the Marauders' faces dimmed somewhat. "We're not really allowed to say," Remus replied. "Just like souls, knowledge is only supposed to pass in one direction across the veil. In fact, that's about the only fact about our side we actually _are_ allowed to share."

Harry looked down to the ground at his feet. "Can you... can you at least tell me if it's all right, what I'm doing? Giving up like this?"

"Whatever you do, it's all right, pup. You've already given more than anyone had any right to ask of you. You shouldn't have to give up your life as well." He wasn't sure, but Harry thought he caught a glint of mischief in his godfather's eyes, though he couldn't imagine why.

"There's one thing you need to remember, Harry," now his attention was locked on his mother's eyes, identical shades of emerald gazing into each other. "A mother always loves her son. You could have been the next Tom Riddle, and even if I would be disappointed and hope you'd be stopped, I would still love you with all that I am. Any mother worth the title would be the same." The intensity of her look as she said this confused Harry, until he realized that she was trying to tell him something - something she wasn't allowed to say, but desperately wanted him to understand nonetheless.

Harry's mind raced. Many people, even Hermione to a degree, believed that Harry wasn't particularly intelligent. His often lackluster academic performance reinforced this impression. The truth, however, was that Harry's intelligence wasn't the type suited for books and essays and logic, being far more useful for practical application, capable of making intuitive leaps and guiding his instincts in a crisis. So it was, that he realized (and hoped he was correct) what his mother was aiming to convey.

Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and focusing his thoughts on the desired subject, he turned the Stone three more times.

When he opened his eyes again, Harry knew by his family's proud smiles that he was right. The new figure before him was smiling as well, but she wore a sad smile that Harry was all too familiar with, having seen it in the mirror many times before when there was nobody around to see him drop his mask. Standing there, wearing the smile of someone who had lived without hope, was the shade of Merope Gaunt.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter, for calling me. I'm so, so sorry that my son has caused so much pain and destruction." She turned to look up at Hogwarts in wonder and melancholy. "Now, I'm finally allowed to see Hogwarts, and I have to see Tom's madness made horribly manifest. He's hurt too many people, destroyed and ended too many lives. It's time for this to end - time to stop him, and if it's even possible, time to save him."

" _Save_ him?! How would that even work? You're trying to help him!" Harry shouted angrily.

Merope turned back to Harry, and he recoiled at the unfathomable sadness in her eyes. "I am, and the first step of helping him is to stop him from causing any more harm. You already know how my son has mutilated his own soul in an attempt to escape death, with each further crime tearing at it further." If anything, her pained expression became even more profound. "Imagine, for a moment, what that would mean for his soul when he does reach our side of the veil? A place where all that exists of you is your eternal, immortal soul?"

Harry's blood turned to ice as his mind tried to process this. What would it be like, in a form where you'd completely torn away seven pieces of yourself, and violently ripped at the rest? Even worse, you'd be stuck like that forever. It made him sick to even try to grasp that kind of existence.

"I see from the look on your face that you understand. To save Tom, I need to first stop him from hurting others, and thus himself, any further. After that, I can only try my hardest to put my boy back together, to heal him, and let him become someone that can finally understand my love. Luckily, thanks to several factors together, I can tell you more than would normally be allowed and I - no, we - can stop him. First," she turned to Lily, "your mother's sacrifice. Her love of you and acceptance of death are the absolute opposite of the abomination my son unknowingly created in your scar."

Merope turned back to Harry. "Second, the horcrux itself: Over the past sixteen years, it has been steeped in a connection to your magic, and carried that connection over to the rest of Tom. At the same time, the fragmenting of his soul and the subsequent liberation of several fragments has left him far closer to Death's domain than anyone else currently alive."

"Third, that disgusting ritual, desecrating his father's grave and stealing your blood: While it may have allowed him to bypass the most obvious effects of Lily's sacrifice, it also filled his new body with the power of her love for you, creating a vulnerability he doesn't expect."

"Finally, you: Even if you don't hold the Elder Wand, you are the Master of all three Hallows, and even carry some Peverell blood within you from your father. This means that the Stone's power is greater for you than for any previous holder. This added power in your hands, your manifold connection to my son, and the fact that both of you are already saturated in the power of a mother's love, will allow another loving mother to reach across the Veil and, to a limited degree, touch her son." At this, Merope moved forward, reaching out toward Harry. As she approached, she paused, looking to him as if for permission.

While he didn't know exactly what was going on, Harry was reasonably sure it was the right thing to do. A glance at the others, seeing their nods, he nodded his affirmation to Merope's shade. She closed the last pace between them, and reached up to Harry's face with a look of utmost tenderness.

As her hand reached his forehead, Harry felt a cold entering his head around his famous scar, similar to the feeling of passing through one of Hogwarts' ghosts. There was a spike of pain, a strange directionless feeling of _pulling_ , and suddenly Harry collapsed to his knees, feeling oddly both exhausted and lighter than he could ever remember. Looking up, he could see Merope stepping back, cradling a roiling mass of familiar oily black smoke in her arms like some ersatz infant. When he reached up to touch his still-aching forehead, he found a wetness and his hand came away bloody, suggesting that his scar had split open again.

After gazing at the fragment of her son in her arms in sad adoration for several moments, Merope turned back to Harry. "We should hurry along. I can only linger so long before my ability to do anything begins to fade."

"Keep your cloak on, Harry," James added. "You'll need to come with us, since we can't travel far from the Stone, and I'd rather not see you targeted if any curses end up flying." Harry nodded, pulling the Cloak over his head and following after the five shades as they walked towards where Voldemort waited.

* * *

 **"I expected him to come."**

"It's not him you should be concerned with, Tom."

Voldemort's eyes and wand were instantly trained on the source of the voice, much to the confusion of the surrounding Death Eaters. "Who are you, to come here calling me that disgusting Muggle name," Voldemort sneered, "another of Dumbledore's foolish sheep? You certainly have the look of a mudblood about you."

"My Lord?" Dolohov ventured, only to be silenced by a sharp gesture from his master's free hand, his wand and gaze never wavering in their target.

Merope smiled sadly. "Pureblood, actually. Our family kept our blood extremely pure, not 'sullying the noble line of Slytherin with lesser blood', as father used to say." Harry could see a hint of confused worry creep into Voldemort's expression at this. "If circumstances had been different, I would likely have been forced to wed my brother. You do remember your uncle Morfin, don't you?" At this, she stepped more fully into the firelight, allowing her son to see what she carried in her arms, a sight which slid his expression into one of alarm.

" _Avada Kedavra!_ " he screamed, the green bolt passing harmlessly through Merope and causing Harry to duck behind the tree beside him as another tree nearby burst into flames, its leaves already showing signs of wilting. The Death Eaters around him now clearly shared their master's alarm, even if the source of their apprehension was significantly nearer.

"You would even kill me, Tom?" Merope shook her head sadly. "I shouldn't be surprised, after everything else you've done, but even after all this time I still want to think the best of you."

"Stop calling me that! I am Lord Voldemort!" Riddle screamed, his expression becoming frantic.

"My lord, what is it? Who offends you?" Bellatrix urged, only for her snarling master to sweep his hand, smashing her aside with a blast of wandless magic. Narcissa, Merope, and Harry all winced, even if for differing reasons.

"Please, Tom," Merope pleaded, beginning to approach him now, "please stop. I can't stand to see my son continuing to hurt himself like this." Voldemort only responded by firing curse after curse fruitlessly through her. Harry was forced to find cover outside the line of fire as the number, power, and violence of Riddle's curses obliterated his previous location. The Death Eaters, too, scrambled back in terror, baffled as to what had come over their master. Lucius and Narcissa hurried to the back of the crowd, as far away from their apparently-deranged lord as they could get without appearing to desert, while Greyback, Dolohov, the Lestranges, and the other more aggressive and/or fanatical Death Eaters remained closest. Both of the giants present watched Voldemort warily, but didn't bother to get up, confident that their thick magic-resistant skin would keep them safe from any stray shots.

Seeing everyone so distracted, Harry hastily continued his circuit around the clearing and made his way to where Hagrid remained bound, leaving the two of them the closest living people to the increasingly panicked Dark Lord. Several quick tugs at Hagrid's clothing got the half-giant's attention before Harry briefly pulled open the Cloak's hood just enough that only his large friend could see his face as he made a gesture for silence. At Hagrid's nod, a whispered " _diffindo_ " severed the bonds holding him to the tree, and Harry tugged at his clothing again to urge him away from the clearing while everyone else was distracted. Fifty years of working as Hogwarts gamekeeper meant that Hagrid was able to disappear into the forest with surprising speed and stealth for a man of his size and usual lack of subtlety. Harry hoped that his first magical friend would forgive him for not following, but for better or for worse he needed to stay here and see things out to their finish.

Merope was now directly in front of Voldemort as he stood panting, clearly trying desperately to understand what was going on and what he could do to regain control of the situation. To his surprise, she stepped not to him, but to the bubble enclosing Nagini. "NO!" he screamed, "Stay back! Get away from there!" Ignoring her son's horrified cries, she reached effortlessly through a shield that would have stopped anything short of an Unforgivable and into Nagini. The snake's protection was now a prison, preventing her from escaping Merope's icy grasp as she thrashed and hissed in pain before stilling as the shade's hand withdrew, clutching another mass of black smoke which struggled to escape until she placed in the crook of her arm, cradling it beside the one she'd withdrawn from Harry.

Impossible as it seemed, Voldemort's panic escalated even further, and he abandoned all caution and restraint. " _Incendium Maledicta!_ " he shrieked, and the same flames Harry had escaped in the Room of Requirement made another appearance, engulfing Merope's shade and Nagini's bubble before filling much of the clearing. Harry was certain that he heard Bellatrix's scream, albeit briefly, when a flaming copy of Slytherin's basilisk swept along the front of the Death Eater lines, consuming at least a dozen of Voldemort's best fighters, before all other sound was drowned out by the agonized roars of two dying giants. One giant collapsed forward into the flames and disappeared, while the other fell back, crushing or immolating several more Death Eaters.

After what seemed like hours but was likely only a matter of seconds, the flames vanished. As Harry's eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of light, he dimly beheld Voldemort standing in a small circle of unburnt ground at the heart of a zone of total devastation. For several moments Riddle remained stooped and panting, the hand not holding his wand gripping his knee to steady him upright. Finally the dark lord raised his head, and froze, staring in shock at the completely untouched shade of his mother, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Enough, Tom. It's time to stop this. It's time for you to come home." Instead of reaching into her son's body as she had with Harry and Nagini, Merope instead opened her free arm and reached out, as if to embrace him. Voldemort's scream of terror suddenly trailed off abruptly, as his mother stepped back, now tenderly cradling another mass of darkness, and his body collapsed to the ground. As she began to fade, the mother of the worst Dark Lord in recent memory turned to Harry. "Thank you, Harry Potter. I don't know if I'll ever be able to truly heal my son, but at least you have given me a chance. For the first time since my father's and brother's arrests, I have hope that I might some day find peace. I believe you too can find peace, though I suspect it won't happen in the next few minutes. Farewell, and good luck."

She was gone.

"No matter what happens, a mother always loves her child." Harry turned to see Lily and the Marauders standing behind him. Their expressions were again of love and pride, though they looked somewhat strained now, as if they were all in pain, reminding Harry of the tale of the second brother. He went to remove the ring with the Stone.

"Not yet, son," James said quickly, "we're not exactly comfortable, but we want to be here until you're back with your friends. When you have kids of your own someday, you'll know that sometimes you can put up with a bit of unpleasantness if it means making sure they're okay. Parenthood isn't all fun and joy, but even with the ugly parts we wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Speaking of your friends," said Remus, tapping his nose, "I'd suggest getting ready to fight, and maybe think about summoning Riddle's wand if you get the chance."

By this time, the surviving Death Eaters were cautiously creeping into the burned-out clearing, edging towards their master's body with their wands out and their heads swiveling around searching for any sign of fire. "My Lord?" timidly asked one that Harry didn't recognize. Silence. "Master?" he called, somewhat louder. When there was still no response, they began to gather towards the body, several of them conjuring floating orbs of light over it to see by more easily. Finally, one of them gathered enough courage to levitate Riddle's body slightly and gently turn it over, before dropping it in shock as they were confronted with the familiar empty eyes of a corpse.

"NOW!"

At this cry (was that Ron's voice?), dozens of spells rained down on the Death Eaters from over a quarter of the clearing's perimeter. In their confusion, none of them had bothered to consider defense of their position: They were in a tight cluster, their backs to the outside, clearly illuminated and backlit, stationary, and very seriously distracted. The shock of discovering their master's death left them completely vulnerable.

At least half of the Death Eaters in the clearing went down from the initial onslaught, and the rest quickly tried to regroup, fan out, and attempt to fight back. Though their exposed position was certainly less than ideal, they were able to force their attackers to take cover as they responded with a volley of Unforgivables and other Dark curses. The Death Eaters' desperation and viciousness helped to compensate for their badly inferior positioning, and soon the battle was a stalemate. The Hogwarts defenders couldn't advance because they needed their cover to survive, while any Death Eater that separated from his fellows would likely be picked off.

As the Death Eaters turned to meet this new threat, Harry saw his opportunity and Summoned the Elder Wand. Unlike his holly wand, the power of the Deathstick felt like a torrent of icy water flowing through his body from his hand - immensely powerful, but frighteningly cold. With both sides now pinned down, Harry knew it was up to him to play spoiler. He crept to a position directly to the side of the Death Eater line, using the noise of the battle to cover his footsteps, and aimed the Elder Wand at the nearest black-robed figure before whispering " _depulso_ ".

Harry immediately understood why so many had coveted the Wand of Destiny, as his target was flung violently into several neighboring Death Eaters and knocking them around like bowling pins, sending over a dozen dark witches and wizards to the ground where quite a few simply lay groaning, several with at least one limb at a distinctly unnatural angle. He stared at the devastation caused by such a simple spell, before flattening himself to the ground to avoid a trio of curse sent in his general direction by a couple of the more wary Death Eaters. The sudden losses and distraction, however, turned the tide as the Light side was once again able to press their attack, with Harry occasionally tossing in overpowered spells from other directions to cause further chaos or hexing anyone that tried to escape. Soon the remaining Death Eaters were all down, disarmed, and bound.

Harry turned back to the shades behind him. "Thank you," he said quietly, "for everything. Thank you for caring about me, even after everything that happened. I... I love you all, and I'm going to miss you, so much..." Tears were starting to run down his face as he reached down and slowly pulled off the Gaunt family ring.

"We love you too, pup." Sirius said simply.

"You did good, Harry." Remus added, starting to fade.

"I can't say how proud we are of you, son." James beamed, almost gone.

"We'll always love you, baby." Lily's eyes were the last thing Harry could see of them.

Harry stood alone.

A noise from the clearing caught Harry's attention. He turned, seeing a group of DA members cautiously advancing into the clearing, their wands trained on the Death Eaters while several continued to scan the area around them. Following behind came Hagrid, clearly looking around for something. "'Arry!" he shouted, "Arry, where are yeh, are yeh all right?"

"I'm here, Hagrid!" Harry called back, stepping out and pulling open the Cloak after slipping the Wand and Stone into a pocket. "I'm... well I'm not all right, but..."

"I think I will be."

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 **A/N: I'm adding a note here that I now also have a fic containing more of my plot bunnies (well, one more right now, with a second in the works), so if you're looking for prompts/ideas/whatever, check out Leicontis's Laboratory. [/shamelessplug]**


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